About the Authors
Tessa Rooseboom is from Berwick, Nova Scotia, and is a recent graduate from UPEI’s Bachelor of Arts in Psychology program. She started in the lab in her third year of her degree as volunteer research assistant. Over the past two summers she has worked with Dr. MacKinnon on various projects around the lab, with special focus of tutorial development for the Masters of Cleantech Leadership and Transformation. She has now begun a two year Bachelor of Social Work program at Dalhousie University.
Dr. Stacey MacKinnon has taught at UPEI since 2004 and is highly recognized for expanding the focus of higher education to curiosity and inquiry-based modes of learning. In 2011 she created “The Curiosity Project” for her social psychology class and in the past 15 years, it has been adopted/adapted by professors from multiple faculities across campus. In 2015 she redesigned UPEI 1020 Inquiry Studies to give learners hands-on experience with “wicked questions”. Dr MacKinnon has been recognized with multiple institutional and national teaching awards, including the 2025 3M National Teaching Fellowship and the 2023 Association of Atlantic Universities Anne Marie MacKinnon Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership .
Patience Smith is from Prince Edward island. She joined the CIRCL in the 3rd year of her psychology degree, and has since been working with Dr.Mackinnon and other founding members to complete several research projects, including a ongoing project with the departments of Psychology and Health Management evaluating IBL effectiveness in veterinary courses. She is currently perusing her honours degree, completing a thesis pertaining to critical thinking and AI.
Ryan Drew has been teaching and refining UPEI 1020 for the past five years as well as working in educational programming design for the National Arts Centre and National Geographic. A true polymath, Ryan holds a Masters of Global Affairs and a Bachelors degree in Music and is currently a PhD candidate in Interdiscplinary Studies at the University of New Brunswick. He is highly regarded for his interdisciplinary approach to teaching and research as well as his inclusion of both critical and creative thinking in his pedagogical approach. He has been honoured with the 2025 Hessian Award for Excellence in Sessional Teaching.
Noah Striker is Ontario and worked as the lab coordinator for the CIRCL where he complete his honours degree in psychology with his thesis titled The Feedback Equation: Peer Collaboration, AI Innovation, and the Future of Learning in Higher Education. He is now pursuing Master of Education in Open, Digital, and Distance Education at Athabasca University.
Alissa Cyrino is from Brazil and currently studying psychology at UPEI! When she got the chance to write something for students as a student, she reminded myself why she liked learning so much. Learning is about sharing, and especially with this piece, she felt she regained control over an education that can feel outdated and written by people who have not been students in a long time. Favourite quote: The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times. Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Bella Doyle is from Stratford, Prince Edward Island, and has been volunteering with the lab since the end of her 3rd year of her psychology degree. She is now going into her 4th year, and hopes to pursue an honours degree in the coming years. She has been involved in the creation of the inquiry OER.
Evelyn McEwen is from Prince Edward Island and started working with the lab in her 1st year of her dual degree in psychology and music. She has been involved in a wide range of projects in her time with the lab, often providing a unique expertise as the only individual who has moved through the lab across all the years of her degree thus far.
There is a crack in everything.That’s how the light gets in.–Leonard Cohen
Katie Hao is from China and study Computer Science. Her studies take place at University of Prince Edward Island, and it is through this university experience that she started questioning and owning my learning and growth. Through this book, she aims to share her journey in a way that supports yours.
Keely Stevenson is from Pictou, Nova Scotia and completed her honours degree in psychology under Dr. MacKinnon in 2025, where she explored the efficacy of RWP using paper and screens for reading. She is now completing her Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology through Yorkville University.
Olaoluwatofunmi Moses, is from Lagos, Nigeria. She is a fourth-year psychology student with a minor in sociology. She believes that curiosity and community are keys to lasting social change, and that community can only be built when we reach out. Reaching out to create community and spread curiosity through this project has been a really fulfilling process for her! If she were a quote, it would be from Hamilton: “I am inimitable, I am an original.”
